WASHINGTON -- As it has been for nearly 16 months, longer than any time in the nation's history, the U.S. Capitol is closed to most public visitors.
The one-two punch of the coronavirus pandemic that shuttered the Capitol's doors in the spring of 2020 and the insurrection by then-President Donald Trump's supporters on Jan. 6 has left the icon of American democracy off limits to all but a select few.
As the rest of the nation emerges this July Fourth holiday from the pandemic for cookouts and fireworks that President Joe Biden is encouraging from the White House, the people's house faces new threats of violence, virus variants and a more difficult moment.
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"What is heartbreaking about it is that the Capitol has been forever our symbol of democracy -- enduring through the Civil War, through world wars, through strife of all kinds," said Jane L. Campbell, president and CEO of the United States Capitol Historical Society.
Congressional leaders are working to resume public tours at the Capitol in some form, but any reopening probably will come with new protocols for health and safety for the millions of annual visitors, 535 lawmakers and thousands of staff and crew members who work under the dome and its surrounding campus.
In the House, lawmakers have been operating under a proxy voting system that has allowed them to avoid travel to Washington, though most now vote in person. The smaller Senate is mostly back to in-person business. Both chambers conduct some committee operations remotely.
The security fencing surrounding the Capitol is about to come down, a gesture toward normalcy. A $1.9 billion emergency spending package to bolster security for the complex was approved by the House, but the Senate is objecting to the increased money.
The conversations in public and private over how to safely reopen are shifting as dangerous coronavirus strains emerge and federal law enforcement officials issue new warnings about the potential for violence from right-wing extremist groups and those who believe in conspiracies.
White nationalists and other far-right groups loyal to Trump stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, and were among those trying to overturn Biden's victory. Authorities have been tracking chatter online about groups of people potentially returning to Washington as part of an unfounded and baseless conspiracy theory that Trump will be reinstated in August, according to two officials familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement information.
"I want people to feel proud that they can come to the Capitol, and they can talk about its rich history," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and now chairman of a new select panel that will investigate the riot.
"We shouldn't ever think about visiting the Capitol and wondering if it's safe," he said.
Lawmakers have struggled over the past year with their own mixed emotions over the shuttered doors, wary of returning to the Capitol when a segment of their colleagues, mainly Republicans, refuse to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Two elected officials have died of covid-19 complications.
While many lawmakers say they are saddened by the black-metal security fencing, and all it represents, some also view it as a necessary deterrent after having fled to safety from the pro-Trump rioters.
Information for this article was contributed by Michael Balsamo of The Associated Press.
